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"Because it is the geekiest place in the world."
-
Stefano Castelli (Castef)

1) Get a 2-minute explanation at Origins. Use this as the basis for your understanding of the game rules and mechanics.

2) Purchase the game. Open the box and read the rules and become familiar with the bits, while actually spending more time watching Mythbusters. Read the rules carefully, except for the parts about combat, closing gates and basically anything really important.

3) Resolve to try the single player version before playing with friends, then never follow through.

4) Have friends over. Despite thorough reading of the rules, get the number of players wrong. Say, "Sure we can play with 10 players." After a half an hour of setup and getting scared just by the number of bits and the length of the rules, realize your mistake. Keep playing anyway.

5) Play your first turn. Ignore the starting player marker ("I'm sure that will mean something eventually") and follow standard U.S. game mechanics where each player does the 5 phases in turn.

6) Rather than trying to dig through the rules and explain them properly, pass them around to each player on their turn, in the vain hope that all 24 pages will get read collectively.

7) After a few turns of this, where every player draws a Mythos card, become amazed as gates and monsters start showing up like mad, and the doom track fills up quickly.

8) Despite having completely missed the proper turn order, somehow see the rule that states that with more players the doom track doesn't have to get completely filled before the Ancient One shows up. Drop into fighting the Ancient One before half the people have even had a chance to do anything. Say things like "Either we're playing this wrong, or this game is incredibly hard." or "We must be doing something wrong."